I Still Believe in Destiny
by Chidorigan
Summary: Team Gai is sent on a simple mission to protect a daimyo when everything goes terribly wrong. Told from TenTen's point of view. NejiTen.
1. Find Me in the Shadows

TenTen ran as fast as she could next to her teammates. Lee was ahead of her and Neji, being able to go faster. Neji called for him to fall back with them, but he wasn't listening. The smoke rising from the ground up ahead was preventing him from doing what his teammates said. The smoke was rising from a village not far away. They'd spent the last couple days there, guarding the daimyo. They'd only left for a minute to escort the daimyo to another village where other ninja were waiting to protect him. All they had left to do was pick up their things and go. But now everything had changed. Something terrible had happened. Right now they only hoped that the people were okay. Even Neji had gotten to know them a bit while they were there and had become attached to them all.

As TenTen approached the burning village she saw Lee standing there, not moving. She could tell Neji had noticed the normally cheerful boy's odd behavior too. She stopped next to Lee and her mouth dropped open. All the people of the town had been slaughtered. There was blood everywhere and people just lied in the streets with huge gashes in them. Men, women, children, it didn't matter. They killed them all without caring who they were killing. TenTen had never seen such violence before in her life. Sure, she'd seen dead people, but this was different. An entire village had been slaughtered for no apparent reason. Now, she could see tears forming in Lee's eyes, but neither she nor Neji made any sign that they'd noticed it. They understood completely. TenTen had to consciously keep herself from crying as well. She almost let a tear escape, but her thoughts were quickly interrupted by a loud cry. Before she could even move Lee was gone to find the noise.

Neji signaled to her to follow, but quietly. The person responsible for this massacre could still be there. TenTen and Neji ran quickly, but quietly in the direction Lee had gone. It wasn't hard to track him; the crying was excruciatingly loud.  
Neji and TenTen entered a house where the sound was coming from and saw him holding the Daimyo's one year old son in his arms. Somehow the boy had survived the massacre, though how, she didn't know.

Neji was the only one of them that was able to think clearly. He immediately began assessing the situation.

"TenTen, check for and more survivors and attend to them. If you find anyone that can walk, make sure they get as far away from here as possible. Lee, take the kid and run. I don't know how they didn't kill him before but as soon as they figure out their mistake, they'll be back for him. Iwaki village will be the safest place. Take him there," Neji said with a voice so emotionless that TenTen couldn't tell whether he'd been affected by the scene before them.  
TenTen frowned and said, "Neji-"

"I'll search for whoever did this," Neji said, cutting off the objection that was coming.

Neji always gave himself the most dangerous part of the mission. Most people would think it was because he thought that he was the only person strong enough for it, but TenTen knew better. That wasn't the reason at all. No, Neji didn't want anyone else to get hurt. If anyone was going to be injured, it would be him. Of course, he would deny it if TenTen had ever brought it up. He was too proud to ever admit caring that much about his teammates. He'd rather be seen as emotionless than be seen as what he perceived as weak.

Soon, the sound of Neji's voice brought her out of her thought and back into the real world.

"We'll meet in Iwaki village. Now go!"

Neji and Lee disappeared, leaving TenTen alone to search the village for survivors. And search she did. She searched all through the village, checking every single person for a pulse. It took her hours of painstakingly checking the ruins of every home and all that resulted in was a bloodstained mission uniform, along with blood pretty much covering the rest of her body as well. She reeked of death to the point she wanted to vomit. But, she had a job to complete. She had to find out if anyone else had survived.

After checking the last body in the whole village, TenTen sighed. She couldn't risk burying them all now. Whoever did this could still be nearby. It pained her to leave the people lying out like that, but she had no choice. She had to go. Neji or Lee might need her help. They were her first priority, always would be.

TenTen left the village in a hurry, heading straight for Iwaki village. It would take her about an hour to get there if she went full speed. But, she was too tired for full speed. At the rate she was able to go, it would take about two and a half hours to arrive. This wasn't a good thing by far. The sun was already setting and soon it would be dark. She couldn't stop though. It was much more dangerous to stay there than to keep running in the dark even though she was running out of chakra.

Dashing across tree limbs, the brunette kept an eye out for any signs of anyone nearby. She really wished Neji was there at that moment with his byakugan; or Lee with his incredible speed. But, she was on her own right now and would have to make do with what she could. Unfortunately, because of how much chakra she'd used that day, she wouldn't be able to defend herself very well against a strong opponent.

After about forty-five minutes of running, TenTen heard a rustle of some leaves and skidded to a stop. She reached for the giant weapon scroll on her back and pulled it out very slowly, keeping all her senses on high alert for any sign of the enemy. As she reached to unseal a katana from her scroll, there were suddenly at least five enemy ninja rushing her all at once. 'Shit…' she thought, realizing that she must have fallen into a trap. In a flash he had her katana out, fighting off the enemies. Unfortunately, there were just too many of them for her to take in her tired state. She managed to kill two of them, but a blow came out of seemingly nowhere when she had her back turned and she was sent flying forward straight into a tree.

A loud crack resounded through the area as her body smashed against the tree, breaking several of her bones for sure. She fell down to the ground with a thump and struggled to pull herself up, barely able to keep herself from passing out. 'I can't give up. If I do I'm a goner.' She managed to get herself standing most of the way when she heard a shout. Expecting to be attacked by her opponents once more, TenTen held her arms up to her face to shield herself. She heard a serious of shouts from the enemies once more, but no attacks on her ever came.

After a moment, the barely conscious TenTen moved her arms from in front of her face to catch a glimpse of a hopeful sight. There was Neji, destroying the last enemy. TenTen opened her mouth to call out to him but felt herself getting weaker. That was when she realized that she's been cut in the side badly during her fight. She was losing a lot of blood, and fast. "Neji…..' she managed to say at a tone that was barely a whisper. Her eyesight was fuzzy as she fell to her knees and desperately tried not to pass out.

TenTen suddenly felt herself being held up by something else and she tried to focus her eyes on what it was. She was too weak to see, but knew immediately once the voice hit her ears.

"TenTen! TenTen, hold on."

It was Neji's voice. She tried to reach out to him but couldn't. She fell forward, her head resting on the Neji's chest. He must have been kneeling in front of her, she realized. She felt a hand grab her waist where she was cut to try to stop the bleeding. Another hand was under her legs and she felt herself lifted into the air.

"It's going to be okay TenTen. Just hold on," was the last thing she heard before she lost consciousness completely, her body going limp in her teammate's arms.


	2. No Words Needed

Thump….

Thump….

Thump….

That was what TenTen's head felt like as she felt herself waking up slowly. As she became more awake she began take in her surroundings. She began to hear people whispering around her and felt something warm touching her arm. The clothes she was wearing also felt loose, unlike her normal clothes.

"How much longer will she be out like that?"

"I don't know. She could wake up in a few minutes, or it may be a few days"

"Don't worry my youthfully optimistic pupil. TenTen is a blossoming flower than will endure all weather."

"Yosh! Of course Gai-sensei. If I have doubts again I will do one thousand pushups!"

"Geez Gai-sensei, do you have to encourage him like that? And Lee, be quiet. You'll wake Neji. This is the first time he's slept since he brought her here."

"Oops, sorry."

TenTen's eyelids felt heavy but she began to open them slowly to see who the voices belonged to. Of course, without opening her eyes it was easy to identify two of the voices. It was Lee and Gai-sensei. The third though, that was a mystery. It was definitely a girl's voice. And it sounded familiar. Yes, she was sure she'd heard that voice somewhere before. But, that terrible headache she had prevented her from thinking clearly.

"Sakura-chan look. She's waking up."

Her eyes were now half open and she could see the blurry outlines of Lee and Gai. They were now staring at her from the end of the bed she was in. The third person was at her side. The injured kunoichi blinked a couple times and her vision became clearer.

"Sakura-chan, what are you doing here?" she managed to say quietly.

She felt very dehydrated and could barely speak because her mouth was so dry.

"Shhh…. You've been asleep for three days. Lee came to get help from Konoha and brought me and Gai-sensei to help you. When I arrived you had a gash on your side and three broken ribs. I've managed to heal you most of the way, though you'll be sore for a while and need to rest in order to regain your chakra," Sakura whispered to her.

TenTen took a moment to digest this information. She didn't hurt as much as she thought she would. Sure, she felt like she'd just gotten buried by an avalanche, but she could be much worse. There was still just one thing that bothered her.

"Sakura, why are you whispering?"

At that question, Sakura smiled and pointed to the other side of the bed. TenTen's gaze followed the gesture and settled on a person seated beside the bed. Her eyes widened, realizing that it was a very disheveled Neji. His hair was a mess and he was slumped forward, asleep with his cheek resting on TenTen's arm. That must have been the warmth she felt when she first woke up. He also wasn't wearing a shirt for some reason. Then, TenTen realized that she was wearing Neji's shirt. It was way too big for her. The sleeves came down below her hands and it was too long.

Seeing the puzzled look on TenTen's face, Sakura smiled and whispered, "He stayed by your side the entire time. I had to force him to leave the room when I treated your wounds. And since your clothes were ruined by all the blood, he made me put his own shirt on you so that you wouldn't be embarrassed about being in your undergarments when you woke up."

TenTen's eyes widened and she stared at Neji for a minute. He'd really done all that for her? She'd never realized he cared so much. Sure, she knew that he cared for his team, but this was different. She'd never seen Neji openly show such caring for anyone, so why her? She was just another teammate to him, wasn't she? With all those questions floating around in her head, TenTen began to feel more sick. It must have been obvious to the others too.

"Sakura-chan, she's getting really pale," Lee said.

Sakura nodded in agreement and began to heal TenTen. As she did, TenTen felt herself getting sleepier and sleepier until she could no longer keep her eyes open. Her eyelids were so heavy that she closed then, falling quickly into a deep slumber.

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A large open field, that's were TenTen found herself. It was raining but the grass was brown as if it hadn't had rain in a long time. She reached out and touched the rain. It was cold, very cold. No wonder nothing was growing in this place. It was too cold to sustain life. So what was she doing there? She shouldn't be there. She should be with her team, with Neji and Lee. That's when she saw them, standing there so far away. She could barely see them.

"Lee! Neji!" she called out to them.

But they just continued to stare at her. She tried to run towards them, but her legs wouldn't move. It was like they were glued to the ground.

"How could you abandon us, TenTen" Lee said, his voice as cold as the icy rain that poured over her.

"No Lee! I didn't abandon you. I'm right here," she called out.

But Lee just turned away from her and walked away. She tried again to run to him, but she still could. Tears began to roll down her cheeks at the thought of her teammate walking away like that.

"It's a pity. I actually started to care about you for a minute. Maybe I'll just leave the village and go join Sasuke now," Neji said to her.

That really hurt her. It felt like her spirit had just been ripped from her body and Neji had stomped all over it.

"Neji wait! Don't go! Please…"

As Neji too turned away and left her alone TenTen's legs gave out and she fell to her knees, crying.

"No, please don't go. You two are all I have left."

But it was too late. They were gone. She was all alone. She didn't want to be alone. She wanted her team. They were all she had. Without them…. It was something too awful to think about. She just couldn't lose them.

_______________________________________________

"Neji!!!" she called out, reaching out to where he'd disappeared.

That's when her eyes shot open and she sat up. She was breathing heavily and shaking all over. Looking around, she slowly realized that it had all just been a dream. None of it was real. Neji was still sitting next to her like he had been when she fell asleep, only now he was wide awake and staring at her with a look of bewilderment from his seat next to her bed. Everyone else must have been someone else because they were nowhere to be seen.

"TenTen, are you okay? Why did you yell my name?" he asked, sounding worried.

TenTen realized that she must have yelled that last part out loud and looked away in embarrassment.

"It was just a bad dream. It's nothing to worry about."

Even though she sounded calm and collected, TenTen was still shaking from the impact that dream had on her. Apparently Neji could tell and he sighed, shaking his head. But, he didn't say anything to her about it. He didn't want to embarrass her any more. He knew that if she wanted to talk about it then she would. But right now, she didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want to say that the dream was about losing her teammates, although Neji'd probably already guessed that since she'll yelled his name.

Suddenly the injured girl felt something touch her hand and looked over to see Neji's hand resting gently on top of hers. Of course, the stubborn Hyuuga was looking away, pretending he had no idea that he was holding her hand. TenTen smiled and proceeded to avert her eyes as well, knowing how uncomfortable Neji must be with this simple gesture. But it made her so happy that he did that. She thought that he was just going to be silent, but then TenTen heard him clear his throat, preparing to speak. She looked over at him, seeing that he was still looking away, staring intently at the wall.

After a moment he started to speak, saying, "TenTen, I-"

"Neji! Is TenTen awake yet?" came the loud voice of Rock Lee as he opened the door and came bounding into the room.

Neji removed his hand from TenTen's in a flash and stood up from his seat.

"Yes, as you can obviously see, TenTen is awake," he said, sounding annoyed.

And with that, Neji walked out of the room emotionless as ever and TenTen sighed. So much for the little moment they were having there. She wondered what Neji had been about to say when Lee interrupted. She might never find out now. But she couldn't blame Lee. He'd just wanted to check up on her. So now she'd just have to wait until she and Neji had another 'moment.' Great…. As if that was ever going to happen again.

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_Author's Comments: Hehe, a little tiny bit of romance in this chapter, but no action. I expect to put some more action in the next chapter along with some serious drama. _

_ Also, there may be some light LeeSaku later on. I haven't decided yet.  
_

_ What was Neji going to say to TenTen? Only I know. Well, Neji knows too, but he's not going to tell you. So, you'll just have to wait to find out. ^^_

_ And one more thing, I appreciate reviews. In fact, i absolutely love them. So please, review. _


	3. Not Going to Say Goodbye

TenTen sighed, listening to Lee as he paced around the room complaining about what a jerk Neji was for walking off so cool like. It wasn't the first time she'd heard one of these rants from Lee. Every time Neji made him look bad Lee automatically launched into one of these rants as soon as he could. But, TenTen only smiled and sweat-dropped.

"Ne ne, Lee. It's not like that. He wasn't really being cool. He just left to get a glass of water," she said to the youth obsessed male.

TenTen could see the wheels turning inside Lee's mind as he contemplated what TenTen had said. Maybe he wouldn't believe it. It was kind of a lame lie.

"Yosh! Of course, you are right. How ridiculous of me," Lee exclaimed.

Or maybe not. It figured Lee would be fooled by such a dumb lie. But, at least Lee was happy again, making TenTen smile. She hated to see the boy upset over Neji's …. Well the only word to describe is Neji-ness. But, what could she do? Those two would always be like that. Luckily, they would come together when it really counts.

"Hey TenTen, how are you feeling," Sakura said, entering the room and interrupting both TenTen's thoughts and Lee's chattering about youth.

"Much better. You must be getting really good at healing," was TenTen's response.

Sakura smiled at the compliment and proceeded to check on TenTen's health, looking at things like her temperature and heart rate. After that though, Sakura had to usher Lee out of the room.

"Come on Lee, time to go. I need to change TenTen's bandages. That means no boys," Sakura said as she pushed Lee out of the room.

Before exiting completely Lee poked his head back in the door and said, "You're looking very youthful toda-"

And then Sakura slammed the door in Lee's face. So much for her warming up to him. TenTen had thought for sure that she might be developing feelings for the boy. But now, she wasn't so sure. It would be such a pity if she didn't. Lee really deserved some love.

Now that Lee was gone, TenTen took off the shirt of Neji's that she was wearing to let Sakura get to the bandages on her side. As Sakura unwrapped them, TenTen winced at the pain but didn't complain. As a kunoichi, it would be a sign of weakness to complain about such pain. She had to be able to endure anything, just like her teammates. After all, they'd both been through so much that it made a simple injury like this seem trivial. But that was part of the reason she admired both of her teammates so much.

"There we go, all done," she heard Sakura say.

"So, am I healthy enough to walk around?" TenTen asked.

Sakura nodded, throwing away the dirty bandages.

"Yep, you can do anything non-ninja related. In a few days you should be all healed up. But until then, no being like Lee and sneaking training."

TenTen nodded. She wasn't about to do something that could hurt her anymore at this point, so following Sakura's instructions would be her best bet. Stretching her arms up in the air, the brunette let out a big yawn. Being in that bed for so long had made all her muscles stiff. Since Sakura had said she could, TenTen got out of bed, shakily standing since it was the first time she'd been on her feet in days. She pulled the shirt back on and tied it around the waist. It looked kind of like a short dress since Neji was so much taller than she was. That was a lucky thing too. It would have been really bad if she'd had nothing to wear. She stretched a bit more before looking out the window.

"Hey Sakura-chan, where are we?" she asked.

"In a cabin in the forest. It was too dangerous to move you very far in your condition so Neji brought you here. It's a good thing he found it. That byakugan of his is really amazing like that."

TenTen nodded. The byakugan was definitely amazing. She'd learned that many times over.

Sakura left the room and TenTen followed, hoping to find some food. She hadn't eaten in days, after all. She discovered that all they had left was instant ramen and sighed. It wasn't exactly her favorite food, but she was really hungry so it would do. She began to heat some hot water and leaned up against the counter as she waited. As she was waiting, Gai and Lee walked in from outside.

"Ah, TenTen-chan. You're looking very youthful now that you're out of bed," Gai exclaimed happily.

"Hehe, thanks Gai-sensei. What are you two up to?" she asked in reply.

She knew instantly that she shouldn't have asked that question. Gai and Lee immediately began chattering about going to Iwaki village to get some supplies. For any normal person this wouldn't have been a big deal, but for those two it was an 'explosion of youth.' TenTen kind of wanted to go too, just to be moving around. But, it wouldn't be appropriate considering that the only clothes she currently had were either covered with blood or Neji's shirt. Yeah… there was no way she was going out like that. But, this did give her an idea.

TenTen quickly poured the hot water into her ramen bowl and while it was cooking she ventured off to find Sakura, leaving Lee and Gai still yapping about youth. She found the pink-haired girl attempting to fix her hair in the mirror in the bathroom.

"Trying to look good for someone?" TenTen joked.

TenTen laughed at the barely noticeable blush that had formed on Sakura's cheeks. But that wasn't really why TenTen had sought the girl out.

"Hey Sakura, are you going with Lee and Gai-sensei to Iwaki Town?" she asked.

"I wasn't really planning on it. There isn't really anything I need. Why?" was the reply.

"Well, I kind of need some new clothes and well… I can't exactly go buy them like this. I would ask Lee or Gai, but I'm afraid of what they'd bring back."

"Oh sure. I'll go with them and buy you some clothes."

"Thanks a lot Sakura," TenTen said gratefully.

With that problem solved ,TenTen went back to the kitchen to retrieve her ramen. She sat at the dusty old table that probably hadn't been used in a few years and began to eat. While she ate, she informed Lee and Gai that Sakura would be coming to town with them. That news seemed to fill Lee with glee and the boy began to get rather anxious about going, probably so he could be alone with his 'beautiful flower.' It only took a couple of minutes for Sakura to get ready to leave though. The three finally left, talking loudly.

Once they were gone, TenTen realized that she hadn't seen Neji in a while. She searched the cabin for him, but couldn't find him. She then decided that he must be outside somewhere. Walking outside, the brunette glanced around for her teammate. She found him sitting in a tree, eyes closed but byakugan activated.

"Hey Neji! What are you doing?" she called out to him.

He didn't move. But then again, since his byakugan was active he didn't need to even open his eyes to see her.

"I'm keeping watch. TenTen, you really shouldn't be outside. If we get ambushed you have no way to defend yourself," he said, sounding annoyed.

"Oh come on Neji. We're not going to get ambu-"

TenTen stopped mid sentence. Neji'd just stood up and was staring very intently at something.

"Get inside, now," Neji said, his voice very serious and full of urgency.

TenTen wanted to protest, but she knew that Neji was right in this case. She wasn't in any condition to fight whatever enemy he'd seen. So, she turned and began to run back inside, but stopped in her tracks when a kunai came flying out of the trees and landed at her feet.

"Shit..." she said to herself.

She didn't even have any weapons on her. They were all inside. She dodged to the side as another kunai came flying, and felt a pain in her side. It was like Sakura said; any ninja related activity would be harmful. Luckily, Neji was right there and he was at her side in an instant. Soon, the enemy appeared and immediately TenTen frowned. This wasn't good. There were three of them, all high level.

"This is a warning. Tell us where the daimyo is and we may spare your lives," one of them said.

"Not a chance," Neji replied, making sure to position himself between the enemies and TenTen.

And at that point the battle began.

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Author's comments: Not as much action in this one as I thought, but the next chapter's going to have much more.

Anyways, please review. They make me happy. ^^


	4. I Got Tired of Waiting

Blinding pain. A scream, probably hers. Neji yelling her name. These were the only things she could remember as TenTen stood once again in that cold field. This time the ground was covered in snow and small fluffy snowflakes gently fell to the ground. Her side hurt. Did she rip open her wound? She couldn't tell. She couldn't move. It was as if she herself was frozen along with the ground. But that wasn't possible. It wasn't that cold, or was it? Her body did feel almost numb, as if she was floating. She couldn't even open her mouth to scream out for Neji and she want to desperately. Was he alright? Her mind was fuzzy but she was sure he had been there fighting the enemy. She just couldn't remember what had happened after that. She was about to try to call out for him again when she saw him off in the distance. It was so cold there and the snow was coming down like a blizzard, but he didn't seem cold. He walked straight towards her but didn't seem to see her. No, he seemed to be in another world entirely. Suddenly he stopped and reached his hand out to someone before fading away. TenTen wanted so badly to call out to him, to beg him to come back, but she couldn't. She still couldn't move.

TenTen felt herself jerked from her dream, or nightmare, she wasn't sure which. She wasn't still cold and wet though. And she was lying on something hard. It felt like some kind of brick. Her eyes opened and she began to take in her surroundings. The room she was in sort of reminded her of a prison. The walls of floor were all made of stone and there was a prison cell type door. The floor was damp, meaning that she was probably underground somewhere. But where was she? Was it some kind of dungeon? It sure seemed like it.

The brunette slowly stood up, feeling kind of shaky. Her head hurt again. She'd probably gotten another concussion. That would explain why she couldn't remember most of the fight that she had obviously lost. The last thing she remembered was Neji calling out her name. Then she remembered. Neji. What had happened to him? Was he alright? Had he escaped? She rushed over to the metal bars and tried to look out, but she couldn't see anything. All she saw was a hallway with a door at the end.

"Neji!" she called out, in the hope that her teammate would hear her and come for her.

She knew it was a shot in the dark but she had to try. She had to know if her teammate was alright. And, as if on cue, the door down the hall opened. But it wasn't Neji that came through the door. Instead it was a man she'd never seen before. He was a tall, muscular man who looked like he'd never even heard of a bath. His very presence was intimidating and TenTen felt nervous as he approached.

"Neji? Was that his name?" the gruff man asked as he unlocked her cell.

TenTen felt uneasy and backed away from the bars, placing her back strategically against the wall. It was obvious that whoever this guy was, he was the enemy. And TenTen knew that she had to keep her mouth shut. She couldn't tell him anything. She'd been over procedure for scenarios like this a million times with her team. She wouldn't trust anything this man said. It could all be lies.

At TenTen's lack of response the man seemed to get irritated.

"So, not talking eh? That's okay. You're little Neji didn't talk either. He talked the entire time. He didn't even scream when we tortured him."

The door was now open and the man walked into the cell. TenTen kept her back to the wall and tried to ignore what he said. She kept telling herself that it wasn't true. Neji probably wasn't even captured. This was Neji after all. No one could ever capture him. Right?

"You must be TenTen then. Your name was the only word the little brat spoke. Right before we killed him. He called for you, you know. But you weren't there. Oh no. You were in here, sleeping as he died," the man said menacingly.

TenTen tried to block the thought of Neji dying from her mind. Neji had yelled her name during the fight. She remembered that. That must be how they knew it. It was the only explanation. Neji couldn't be dead.

"So then, TenTen, are you going to die like you little Neji or are you going to tell me what I need to know?" the man said as he further approached her.

He was only a few feet away now and TenTen knew she had to do something. She had to escape. Her opponent was physically bigger than her but she knew she could overcome him. She just had to get him to make a mistake. If she could do that then she could turn the tables around.

"I guess you're just going to have to kill me then," she said confidently, trying to upset him.

"You little brat," the man growled and lunged at her.

This guy must not have been a ninja because he angered really easily. TenTen was fast and used the guys' own force against him. She moved slightly to the side and grabbed him arm, swinging him against the wall in the process. After that she was out of the cell in a flash and closing the door behind her. She could hear the man cussing and yelling behind her but she just ran down the hall and out the door. Once she was out the door she looked around. There were hallways in both directions. The place seemed like an infinite maze as the brunette contemplated which direction to go. She tried listening for any sign of Neji, but the whole place was eerily quiet. She couldn't hear a thing. So she just picked a direction. It wasn't the most logical approach but she didn't really have anything to go on at the point.

TenTen made her way down the winding hallways, not really caring to keep track of where she was going. She didn't know where she started out so there was really no point in trying to know where she was. After about ten minutes of running, she began to lose hoping, wondering if she'd been running in circles the whole time. She was just about to stop and try to figure out a new plan when she heard shouts up ahead. She ran towards them, and stopped just around the corner from where whoever it was would be. She was painfully aware that it could be the enemy and she peered around the corner slowly. She found herself face to face with a door. Whoever was making the noise must have been on the other side. She slowly opened the door, trying not to draw attention to herself and tried to learn what was going on.

A loud thump could be heard as a body hit the ground, the person dead. Standing in front of the body was Neji, his byakugan activated, hand forward after just killing his opponent by cutting off his chakra points and severing the major arteries in his body subsequently. Neji's hands were covered in blood, most of it not his own. It was from the several enemies scattered around him, all dead. But, the blood that ran down his side was his own. There was a cut in it from an enemy's sword. It wasn't a life threatening injury, but it was very painful, not that he would admit that. It also looked like he had a bruised rib.

See that the enemies were all gone and Neji was injured TenTen ran over to him. Neji tried not to show it, but TenTen could tell that he was in a huge amount of pain.

"Neji! Are you alright?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

"I'll live." His answer was short and simple.

TenTen sighed. She should have known that was what he would say. Whenever he was injured he always said that, no matter how serious the injury was.

"We need to get out of here. There will be more of them coming," Neji said, gesturing to the dead enemies.

TenTen was all for leaving the area as soon as possible. Neji was right when he said that they shouldn't stay there. It was unlikely, but it was possible that reinforcements were on their way and the two couldn't handle that right now. When they settled down for the night, once Neji decided that they were fine, then would Tenten check out Neji's injuries and her own. They may clot, but that didn't mean that infection wouldn't set it. And that would be another thing they didn't need to deal with, not when they were still so far from home. And what she wouldn't give to have a medic ninja with them, or at least someone with more healing skills than the two of them. The two of them were wonderful ninja, but...well, she couldn't say they did very well in healing arts. She also wanted to ask him what had happened. Had he escaped as well, or had he come there to rescue her? Were Gai-sensei and Lee nearby then? She hoped they were. They'd have Sakura with them and she could heal Neji's injuries.

"Should we go then?" She murmured softly.

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_Author's Comments: This chapter took a really long time. I blame finals for that. They just took all the brain I had left. I had to wait for my brain to grow back before I finished this._

_But it's summer now, so there shouldn't be many more interruptions_

_Anyways, read and review please. I always post faster when I have lots of reviews. _


	5. I Live to Let You Shine

Neji took a minute to take stock of their situation before pointing to the east. At least TenTen thought it was east. She wasn't sure though. She didn't even know if it was morning or afternoon so the position of the sun told her nothing.

"Yes, let's go that way. There should be some thick trees near a river an hour ahead. We can make camp there," Neji said.

It seemed to TenTen that he was trying to sound perfectly calm, but she'd caught a hint of worry in his face. It had only been for a second, but it was there. Neji was good at hiding his emotions from everyone else, but TenTen could always tell. She'd always been good at reading his emotions, a fact that annoyed him to no end.

Nodding lightly, Tenten pushed away from the tree, making her way over to Neji's side. She didn't miss that Neji was trying to downsize his injuries from her, but she didn't say a thing about it. Bringing it up now would just be a hinderance and Neji would only brush her off. She would stand a better chance of assessing her partner's injuries once they settled for the night. Hopefully, he would allow her to at least look at them. If anything, she could always state the obvious and say that, if he didn't clean them, at least, they would become infected. And that would be worse than even having the injuries in the first place. Neji was smart, he would let her. Or, attempt it on his own.

Neji seemed to be going slower than normal, most likely because he was unsure of how tired TenTen was. Tenten easily kept up with Neji's choice of pace, the only thing remotely hindering her being her head. She hadn't done nearly enough running through that building to make her too tired. Even then, it didn't bother her to the point where she couldn't travel. Merely, a pounding at the back of her head. It was easy to push off for the moment while they travelled. Sleep would help, once they settled down, so it wasn't any concern of Tenten's. What concerned her the most was Neji's injuries. More specifically, the one to his side. If she were to look closely at her friend's movements, there were subtle clues that told her there was some injury to his ribs. And if he moved around too much, without them assessing how bad it was, there was a possibility that more injury could be caused. And Neji wouldn't be too happy if he had to sit around healing.

So they continued on for the hour that he had predicted it would take for them to get there. By the time they reached the area Neji had talked about before they both felt thoroughly exhausted and weak from blood loss. TenTen spotted the area of dense trees up ahead and let out a sigh of relief. It was as they had hoped. The forest was dense and would provide could cover. The river would be nearby and would be useful in obtaining fresh water to clean their wounds. Neji slowed his pace as he reached the area, eventually stopping to rest by leaning up against a tree. His breathing was labored and his chakra was so depleted that he wouldn't be able to use his byakugan to make sure the area was safe. They were careful not to leave a trail that could be followed easily and no one knew that they would be there.

"Neji…are you okay?" Tenten questioned worriedly the moment they reached the cover of the trees.

However, there wasn't a need to even ask. She could see for herself that Neji wasn't doing too well. Moving hadn't been a good idea, but there really hadn't been a choice. The risk that they would have to fight again was high, if they remained there. Still, now that they had stopped for the night, she could take a look at Neji's wounds. He couldn't say that he didn't have any, not with the way his breathing was labored and his skin was paler than normal. There was definitely something wrong with her friend. Even traveling for an hour shouldn't have exhausted him this much, even with a few scrapes and bruises. Even with her head wound, she wasn't as exhausted as Neji, close, though.

It was his side, she knew. She had, well, not seen the wound but she had seen the blood. They would be lucky if there wasn't any internal bleeding, though she would've like to think that Neji would've shown obvious signs that there was definitely something wrong by now. Hopefully all Neji was suffering from was exhaustion, cuts, bruises, and a few symptoms from blood loss. They weren't ideal, but it was better than having her teammate having to suffer from internal bleeding or something even worse. Exhaustion, cuts, scrapes, and blood loss, she could help heal. Internal bleeding and breaks were beyond her.

I'm fine. It's not that -," he paused midsentence, having moved the wrong way and aggravated his injury more.

Still leaning against the tree, Neji slowly slid down to the ground, trying not to draw attention to the fact that his injury was getting to him.

"It's not that bad," he said once more, his voice calm but with an undertone of pain to it.

TenTen could tell that he wasn't so sure about that but didn't want to worry her until he knew anything for sure.

He took off his shirt so that he could get a better look at the wound since using his byakugan at this point would already deplete his chakra more than it already was. TenTen craned her head to get a better look at his injury. The injury was between his ribs and didn't appear to be too deep. Neji touched it gently to feel how much blood was coming out. He withdrew his hand and held up in front of his eyes to look at the blood. TenTen could see that there wasn't much, which meant there were no arteries involved. Neji looked relieved.

TenTen, however, was not relieved_. It is that bad!_ She thought earnestly, though didn't say a word. Granted, it didn't seem like there was internal bleeding or too much bleeding, it was still bad. Neji would be lucky if there was no bruising or worse injury to his ribs. Even if it was just a bruise on his ribs, it would hurt, more so with that injury. Whether he liked it or not, Neji would be taking it easy for a while after they got back to the village. The moving they had already done had worsened the wound, moving around when she had sewn it up would probably aggravate it more and make it even worse.

Tenten watched while her partner brought out the bandages, needle, and thread from his bag. And watched as he debated for moments on how to sew himself up. She could see what was coming and patiently waited for Neji to ask. If there was at least one thing she had learned about Neji, it was that you didn't offer to help him. You'd just get turned down. No, you waited until he asked you or looked at you pointedly enough that you got the hint, even if he hadn't said anything. The few times Neji had asked her to help him, it had mostly been for his training and phrased in a way that wouldn't seem like he was asking for help to other people.

With his eyes averted and a stubborn look on his face, Neji said to TenTen, "I can't do this on my own. I need you to stitch up my wound."

It was obvious his pride was wounded from having to ask. TenTen tried to act completely nonchalant about the whole thing so she wouldn't hurt his pride even more.

Taking the medical supplies from Neji, she threaded the thread through the needle, laying the bandages on her backpack. If there was one thing she hadn't quite gotten over as a ninja, it was sewing people up. It didn't affect her as much as it used to, but she didn't think she'd ever get over it completely. Sewing fabric was fine, but sewing human flesh together...she always got a shiver down her spine thinking about it. It could hurt the person and it was never very pleasant, whether the patient was unconscious or not.

Laying a cool hand around the wound, but not touching it, Tenten began to sew it up, trying to make it as painless and quick as she could without messing it up.

You're getting better at sewing up wounds, TenTen," he said calmly, as if he felt no pain.

TenTen knew that really was the best compliment his pride would allow him to give, even to the person he trusted more than anyone else.

"Thanks, Neji." She murmured, keeping her eyes on his wound.

She didn't want to mess up and shove the needle where it wasn't needed. Redoing it would hurt worse and she knew it hurt, no matter how well Neji covered it up. Unless he was unconscious, it would hurt. Still, she admired him for being able to keep calm and composed. Most people showed a little more reaction, even the older men. Most, not all, but most. Then again, Neji hated to show pain or any other emotion that would damage his pride.

A minute or two later, she finished up with the sewing, neatly finishing it off and removing the needle and placing it and the rest of the thread back into the first-aid kit.

"That should be okay until we get back to the village and have one of the medics check it out." She stated.

Once they got back, professionals could check the state of the wound and what to do with it. All Tenten could do at the moment was hope that she had done alright and hadn't messed anything up, and to keep infection from reaching the wound. So, the next step was to fish out gauze and wrap up Neji's side so the wound was fully covered. It wasn't much, but hopefully, it wouldn't hurt Neji so much. After a good rest, hopefully it wouldn't pain him so much to move around. Yes, despite Neji's efforts to disguise the pain from her, she had been able to spot it, but only because she had heard the sharp intake her teammate had uttered before assessing the damage. Without that, she wouldn't have known how much he was hurting.

Neji took a look at the now stitched up wound.

"That's going to leave a scar," he said, thinking out loud.

"Hm, yes that will do for now. It shouldn't rip open as long as we don't run into any more enemies," he said, appearing to now be more focused than a moment ago.

Neji grabbed the gauze and wrapped his side up on his own. TenTen would have offered to do it for him but she knew that he would refuse to receive any more help than was absolutely necessary, even if it did hurt a back to reach around like that. Once he had the gauze secured, Neji pulled his shirt back on, trying not to show the pain that slipping his arm into the sleeve caused.

Once his shirt was back on, TenTen saw her teammate turn his attention to her.

"I need to make sure you don't have a concussion," he said calmly.

He had obviously taken note of her previous head injury and was very concerned. He held a single finger up in front of TenTen's eyes, a few inches away from her face.

"Follow my finger with your eyes, but don't move your head."

He moved his hand back and forth very slowly.

TenTen knew that he was testing to see if her eyes could follow the movement without moving her head. If she could then she didn't have a concussion and would be fine. But if she couldn't then she had a concussion and he would have to make sure she stayed awake for at least a full day. She noticed a look of concern flashed across his face, but quickly turned back to his usual calm, stoic look.

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_Author's Notes: Alright, this is a nice long chapter. Not much romance though, just a normal interaction between the two of them_


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